Skip to main content
editorial

Eve Adams speaks at the Liberal nomination meeting for the Toronto riding of Eglinton-Lawrence on Sunday.Salvatore Sacco/The Canadian Press

Politicians who cross the floor to join another party all tend to make the same mistake – they think it's about them. It's not. Eve Adams has learned that the hard way.

Ms. Adams, the Liberal MP for the Toronto-area riding of Mississauga-Brampton South, was elected in 2011 as a Conservative. While not exactly cabinet material, she enjoyed the favour of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who appointed her parliamentary secretary for Veterans Affairs and then Health Canada.

Things soured, though, when she decided she wanted the Conservative nomination in a newly-formed riding in Oakville, Ont., where she lives. The party accused her of questionable behaviour in her quest for the nomination and barred her from running again as a Tory.

So in February she quit the party and joined Justin Trudeau's Liberals. There was great fanfare. Mr. Trudeau appeared at a press conference with a solemn Ms. Adams. "I want to work with someone who inspires, not with fear-mongers and bullies," she said. Mr. Trudeau looked pleased with his catch.

But then that soured, too. Ms. Adams announced she would be taking on Joe Oliver, the Conservative Finance Minister, in his Toronto riding. Local Liberals were angered. Mr. Trudeau had promised he wouldn't interfere in nominations, yet he appeared to be anointing her. Critics questioned Ms. Adams's loyalties and ethics, and they accused Mr. Trudeau of breaking his promise.

On Sunday, Ms. Adams lost the nomination in Eglinton-Lawrence. She is, basically, out of a job.

She could still run as an independent, and maybe she will. Many a floor-crosser has made the journey under the illusion that voters elected them personally, and will stick by them, with or without the party's colours. Independents can sometimes win, if voters see their move as a principled one.

But Canadians usually vote far more on the basis of parties and leaders than local candidates. And they don't like politicians who brazenly switch sides. Floor-crossers tend to be seen as opportunistic and unreliable; they usually don't get re-elected or even win their new party's nomination, as happened to Ms. Adams.

The party leaders, meanwhile, wash their hands and move on.

Interact with The Globe